Lo schermo dell’arte Film Festival
8th edition
November 18 – 22, 2015
“Tribute to Martial Raysse”
in collaboration with Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana and Gucci Museo
Florence, Cinema Odeon
Saturday November 21, 6 p.m.
Martial Raysse devant Ici plage terminée
Lo Schermo dell'arte Film Festival 8 th edition (Florence, November 18-22), presents a “Tribute to
Martial Raysse” in collaboration with Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana and Gucci Museo,
following last year special screeneing of works from the Pinault Collection.
On the occasion of Raysse’s major retrospective at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, Saturday November
21 from 6 p.m. at Cinema Odeon, the artist Martial Raysse, in conversation with Martin
Bethenod, director of Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana, will present a selection of six short
films made between 1967 and 2005.
Raysse's work uses different media: from sculpture to neon, huge canvasses saturated color to
poetry, on to video, which shows his libertarian instincts and experiences through color and
editing.
The films which will be presented are: Portrait Électro Machin Chose (1967), in which Raysse
emphasizes his skills as tireless experimenter, appropriating television to create with contrast and
distortion effects, the portrait of a woman seen in the atelier; Camembert Martial Extra-Doux
(1969), in which he blends with subtle irony the music of Offenbach and The Who to produce a
soundtrack for a group disquisition on Camembert Martial’s hallucinogenic effects; the primitive
rhythms of Pig Music (1971) document the climate of the community experience PIG, within which
Raysse produced paintings, photos and newspapers until 1973; rarefied atmospheres leading up to
total abstraction of the image are the focus of Intra Muros (1977); Mon petit cœur (1995),
produced for the exhibition "Féminine Masculin" at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, is 40
seconds of poetry and beauty, built of rhythm and words, comparable to the composition of a
sonnet; Ex-Voto (2005), reflection on beauty seen through works of art, creation and things found
in nature.
Martial Raysse, one of the most important French figurative artists from post-war, works in
different media, from huge canvasses covered with pure pigments to neon sculptures, cinema and
poetry, investigating issues such as the relationship of history with art, the artist's role, policy.
Martial Raysse was born in 1936 on the Cote d’Azur. He joined the New Realism movement, and
signed the founding declaration. In 1963 he moved to Los Angeles, where he continued to a create
multilingual installations; he is among the first artists to experiment with the interactions of
moving images. In 1966, he represented France in the 33rd Biennale di Venezia, and won the
Special Prize for artists under 45. In 2007, he participated in the show “Sequence 1” at Palazzo
Grassi, Venezia, where he returned in 2009 for the group show “Mapping the Studio: Artists from
the François Pinault Collection”. In 2014, the Centre Pompidou in Paris mounted the show
“Raysse: Retrospective. 1960-2014”.
Martin Bethenod
Director of Palazzo Grassi-Punta della Dogana, he has previously carried out many jobs and functions in the
fields of culture and contemporary art. He began his career producing special projects at the Direction des
Affaires Culturelles for the City of Paris (1993-1996); he then became chief of the Cabinet of the President
of the Centre Georges Pompidou (1996-1998), before creating and directing the publications of Centre
Pompidou (1998-2001). He has been chief editor to the magazine Connaissance des Arts (2001-2002), and
later chief editor of the monthly Vogue France. In 2003, he was called to join the Minister for French
Culture and Communication as a delegate for Visual Arts (2003–2004).
From 2004 to 2010 he was general director of FIAC, the international contemporary art fair in Paris; under
his direction, it became one of the most important artistic appointments on the international scene. The
city of Paris charged him with the artistic direction of the Nuit Blanche, 2010.
In 2014 he curated the exhibition in Monaco “ArtLovers, histoire d’art dans la collection Pinault”, with a
selection of works from Pianult Collection.At Gucci Museum, Florence, he curated the exhibition
“Femminilità Radicale” and the presentation of the video “Grosse Fatigue” by Camille Henrot.
Martin Bethenod is also President of CREDAC (Ivry) and the cultural Committee of Fondation de France.
“Tribute to Martial Raysse”
and a conversation between Martial Raysse and Martin Bethenod
Florence, Cinema Odeon
Saturday November 21, 6 p.m.
Lo schermo dell’arte Film Festival - 8th edition
Florence, Cinema Odeon, Palazzo Strozzi - Strozzina, Aula Magna of Rettorato of University of
Florence
November, 18 – 22 2015
www.schermodellarte.org
[email protected]
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Press contact:
Lo schermo dell'arte Film Festival
Studio Ester Di Leo / Firenze / +39 055 223907 / [email protected]
www.studioesterdileo.it
Gucci Museo
Manuela Vizzini
[email protected]
+39 055 7592 7010
Palazzo Grassi- Punta della Dogana
PCM Studio
Via Archimede, 6 | 20129 Milano
Paola C. Manfredi | [email protected]
M. +39 335 54 55 539
Lo schermo dell’arte Film Festival 2015 (Florence, November 18-22) is included in the exhibition “50 Days of
International Cinema in Florence” organized by Quelli della compagnia.
The Festival receives contributions from Creative Europe-MEDIA, Regione Toscana, Ente Cassa di Risparmio/OAC
Osservatorio per le arti contemporanee; the support from Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, the Embassy of the Kingdom of
The Netherlands in Italy , Institut français Firenze, Deutsches Institut Florenz, Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze and
the Patronage of Confederazione Svizzera-Ambasciata di Svizzera in Italia; in collaboration with Centro per l'Arte
Contemporanea Luigi Pecci for the regional project “Cantiere Toscana Contemporanea”; sponsor: ottod'Ame,
Findomestic, Unicoop Firenze, Cecchi; Media partner Sky Arte HD